Digital video recording device ticker playback system and method

ABSTRACT

A system and method of controlling the playback of the event stream information of a particular television channel by a digital video recorder (DVR). The DVR is a computer system configured with a hard drive and video decoder/encoder devices. The hardware environment of DVR ( 100 ) includes an input interface ( 102 ), tuner ( 105 ), MPEG-2 encoder ( 120 ), MPEG-2 decoder ( 110 ), external mass storage device ( 125 ), a central processing unit (CPU) ( 135 ), internal memory ( 127 ), operating system ( 140 ), and event stream generator ( 250 ). The system and method of controlling the playback function of the present invention is primarily implemented within event stream generator ( 250 ). Event stream generator ( 250 ) generates a new video stream for playback onto the television by incorporating the broadcasted event stream information into the selected recorded video stream.

This application is a Divisional application claiming priority to Ser.No. 11/249,941, filed Oct. 13, 2005, issued Apr. 13, 2010, U.S. Pat. No.7,697,820.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to video recording devices. Moreparticularly the present invention relates to the playback of recordedprograms, containing visual news tickers, on digital video recordingdevices (DVRs).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The introduction of videocassette recording devices (VCR) was one of themost important events in the history of television. Prior to the VCRpeople had little control over what they watch on their television.Prior to VCR's there was no such thing as video stores. Today VCR's arecommonplace and are an integral part of the television watchingactivity. The VCR is merely a recording tool utilizing a blank cassettetape. In 1999, Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) hit the market providingtelevision viewers recording capabilities far beyond the limits of theVCR. At the heart of the DVR system is a computer hard drive that storestelevision programs as digital files. Since the DVR internally storesdigital files, the user is provided with more options with regard to theprogram recoding function and the program playback function.

In addition to the main content of a television program, many programshave a news ticker usually displayed at the bottom portion of thescreen. The ticker provides up to date information about various newsrelated items. The ticker event data is a continuous stream of text dataembedded in the video stream and displayed on the lower portion of thetelevision screen. Normally, ticker event data is used on popular newstelevision stations such as CNN and ESPN. Currently the DVR records thetelevision program and stores the ticker event data as part of therecording. At a later time, during the playback of the prior recordedvideo stream, the ticker event data is usually stale. As a result, theviewer has to watch tracker information that is already known and notmuch use. Thus, what is needed is a method and system that displays thecurrent ticker event data during the playback of the previously recordedvideo stream. This method and system should also have the capability ofomitting a previously recorded stale ticker during the playback of therecorded video stream.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a system and method of controlling the playbackof previously recorded event stream information of a particulartelevision channel by a digital video recorder (DVR). The DVR is acomputer system configured with a hard drive and video decoder/encoderdevices. The DVR system of the present further includes recorder moduleand playback module. With the recorder module, a user can select atelevision program that they desire to record. In an alternateembodiment, the recorder module can pre-select television programs torecord based upon a user generated recording profile. A user utilizingsome type of menu driven user interface generates the user recordingprofile. A user can select whole programs, video segments by topic, orsegments of programs to record. Prior to storage of the selectedtelevision programs, the transport stream of the broadcasted signalcontaining the audio, video, and event information is analyzed andencoded.

Based upon the user generated playback parameters, the playback moduleretrieves from storage the desired recorded television programs or videosegments. With the present invention, as the selected televisionprograms or video segments are decoded for display, the currentlybroadcasted video signal from the channel on which the retrieved programwas initially recorded is captured and analyzed for current event tickerinformation. If current ticker information is available, thepre-recorded video data is reconstructed to replace the prior recordedticker information with the current ticker information. During theplayback of the recorded program, the current ticker information isdisplayed on the television screen. This process results in the viewerseeing current ticker information during the playback activity. Theseand other advantages of the present invention will become apparent uponreading the detailed description below in conjunction with the variousdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the hardware environment supporting thedigital video recording device (DVR).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the system overview of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the recording function of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the playback function of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the ticker re-constructor softwarefunction.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the MPEG-2 Video Stream Data.

FIG. 7 a shows the display screen at the time of recording having asports news ticker.

FIG. 7 b shows a new display screen at the time of playback with adifferent sports news ticker.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference toone embodiment as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In thefollowing, description, numerous specific details are set forth in orderto provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will beapparent to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may bepracticed without some or all of these specific details. In otherinstances, well known steps have not been described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an exemplary hardware environment ofdigital video recording device (100) utilized in supporting variousaspects of the present invention. DVR 100 is a computer systemconfigured with a hard drive and video decoder/encoder devices. Thehardware environment of DVR (100) further comprises an input interface(102), tuner (105), MPEG-2 encoder (120), MPEG-2 decoder (110), externalmass storage device (125), central processing unit (CPU) (135), internalmemory (127), operating system (140), event stream generator (250), andoutput interface (150).

The Internal Memory (127) stores instructions used in the implementationof the steps in method of the present invention. This memory can be aconventional Random Access Memory (RAM) or read only memory (ROM).Internal memory (127) operates at the highest speed and is directlyaccessed by CPU (135). RAM is the primary storage used by the CPU andprovides temporary storage for the software as the CPU executes it. RAMcan be altered. However, ROM cannot be altered and normally storessoftware that is used upon boot-up of the system.

The CPU 135 performs the software instructions that control thecomputer. The CPU 135 translates the software into computer instructionsand executes the translated computer instructions. CPU (135) locates theinstruction in internal memory (127), transfers the instruction into aspecial buffer known as a register, and then executes the instruction inthe register. CPU (135) can be a convention Intel, AMD, or anothersuitable processor chip.

Operating system software (140) is the software that controls the CPU.In the present invention, operating system software (140) coordinatesand manipulates the hardware environment supporting DVR (100).Additionally, operating system software (140) organizes the files onmass storage media (125) as well as manages hardware errors and the lossof data. The TiVO DVR is an example of a recording device on the marketthat utilizes a specialized LINUX operating system.

The external mass storage media (125) is slower than internal memory(127) and holds data once the device is turned off. Several gigabytes ofexternal storage are required to support hours of motion videorecording. The external mass storage media can be a conventional IDEhard drive or another suitable storage device. Additionally, a pluralityof hard drives can be daisy chained in RAID configurations.

In addition to the computer hardware requirements described above, theDVR (100) requires specific hardware to support recording digital videostreams. The input interface (102) is standard television audio/videoinput ports. Output interface (150) is standard television audio/videooutput ports. Tuner 105 is for receiving the broadcasted analog signal.MPEG-2 encoder/decoder chips are for the compression and decompressionof the video stream data.

Input interface (102) is an audio/video input data communication portsituated on the back of the housing of the DVR (100). The datacommunication port receives the signal the video signal from an antenna,cable, or satellite and supplies the signal to tuner 105. Tuner 105selects the frequency of the desired channel and transmits the signal toMPEG-2 encoder 120. Advanced DVR platforms can have more than one tuner.MPEG-2 encoder chip 120 converts the analog signal to digital andcompresses the data into the standard MPEG-2 format for storage on theexternal mass storage media 125. However, tuner 105 and MPEG-2 decoderchip 110 is only required if the broadcasted signal received into inputinterface 102 is analog. MPEG-2 decoder chip (110) converts the recordedvideo data or the broadcasted stream data from the MPEG-2 format back toanalog and transmits the analog signal to output interface (150), whichis the audio/video data communication port, connected to the television.

The Moving Pictures Expert Group developed MPEG-2 which is the standardused to encode audio and video for broadcast signals. These signalsinclude satellite and cable television signals. This standard definestransport streams, which are designated to carry digital video and audioover broadcast signals. Movies are normally filmed at a rate of 24frames per second. The MPEG encoder (120) illustrated in FIG. 1 analyzeseach frame in the transmitted signal and determines how to encode andcompress each frame into MPEG-2 format. A frame can be encoded as anintraframe (I picture) which contains the complete image, a predictedframe (P picture) which contains enough information on how to displaythe frame based upon the prior frame, and a bi-directional frame (Bpicture) which contains surround information on how to display the framebased upon the intraframe or the predicted frame.

MPEG-2 encoder (120) in FIG. 1 receives the broadcasted signal andgenerates a sequence of picture frames (i.e. I picture, P picture, or Bpicture). Each picture frame would be an encoded video access unit.Referring to FIG. 6, illustrated is a sample MPEG-2 video packet (300)that includes sequence information 310, a header 315, and a pictureframe 320. Sequence information 310 is used for channel information.Header 315 includes picture frame type information along with anoptional user data field 325. Generally event information is embeddedwithin the user data field 325. Picture frame 320 would contain anencoded I picture, B picture, or P picture. Thus, the stored MPEG-2video stream comprises a sequence of I picture frames, B picture frames,and P pictures representing the broadcasted signal, and the tickerinformation is embedded within header of each picture frame.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system overview of the present invention. DVR (100)system of the present further includes recorder module 175 and playbackmodule 185. Recorder module 175 pre-selects television programs 180 torecord based upon a user generated recording profile 170. A user 160utilizing some type of menu driven user interface 165 generates the userrecording profile 170. A user can select whole programs, video segmentsby topic, or segments of programs to record. Prior to storage of theselected television programs 180, the transport stream of thebroadcasted video signal containing the audio, video, and eventinformation is analyzed and encoded.

Based upon the user generated playback parameters (187), playback module(185) selects from storage the desired recorded television programs orvideo segments. The selected television programs or video segments aredecoded for playback on the television. With the present invention, asthe selected television programs or video segments are decoded fordisplay, the current broadcasted video signal is captured and analyzedfor current event ticker information. If current ticker information isavailable, the pre-recorded video data is reconstructed with the currentticker information prior to playback on the television.

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of the architecture of the recordersubsystem of the present invention. At the profile module 170, a userrecording profile is generated from the recording requests inputted bythe user through user interface 165. The recording requests can be forwhole television programs or a topic based video segments. At theprogram selection module 190, the generated recording profile is used tocreate program selections, which are provided to tuner 105. Based uponthe program selections, tuner 105 captures the MPEG-2 video signalrelating to the program selection and outputs the transport stream 106,which contains all components of the compressed video stream. At thetransport module 196, the transport stream 106 is monitored to establishpacket boundaries so that the data fields can be processed. The packetsin the transport stream 106 are separated into video, audio, and eventticker information compressed data streams and sent to the video 200,audio 205, and event ticker information 204 decoders, respectively.Additionally, the system information in packets incorporated intransport stream 106 are extracted and sent to content engine 215.

At module 205, the audio decoder accepts the compressed audio datastream from the transport stream. The control and synchronizationinformation is extracted from the packet header. Then, the datainformation is decoded to reconstruct uncompressed digital audiosamples. The uncompressed digital audio samples are forwarded to encoder210 for digital-to-analog conversion for playback on the television.

At the video stream decoder module 200, the video decoder accepts thecompressed video data stream from the transport stream. The control andsynchronization information is extracted from the packet header. Then,the data information is decoded to reconstruct uncompressed digitalvideo frames. The uncompressed digital frames are forwarded to theencoder 120 which is encoded into PAL or NTSC format and transmittedthrough output interface 150 for playback on the television.

At the event stream decoder module 207, the event stream decoder acceptsthe compressed event information data stream from the transport stream.The control and synchronization information is extracted from the packetheader. Then, the event information data stream is decoded toreconstruct an uncompressed event information data stream. Theuncompressed event data frames are forwarded to encoder 120 for playbackon the television.

Extracted system information along with the composite video stream issent to the content engine 215. The composite compressed stream isstored as video digital files on mass storage device 125. Indexingtables to navigate through the stored video digital files areconstructed from the extracted system information. Additionally, thesystem information is used to support the electronic programming guidesused within the menu-driven user interface 165.

FIG. 4 illustrates the architecture of the playback subsystem of thepresent invention. At playback module 201, user 160 generates playbackparameters through menu-driven user interface 165. Playback parameterscan contain requests to access whole television programs or a topicbased video segments. Additionally, user 160 initiates the event streamgeneration process.

At the content engine module 215, the user generated playback parametersare used by the content engine 215 to retrieve the required video datafiles from the mass storage device 125. The retrieved video data files,which are stored in compressed MPEG-2 format, are used by module 252 togenerate transport stream 107.

At module 255, the transport stream 107 is monitored to establish packetboundaries so that the data fields can be processed. The packets in thetransport stream 106 are separated into video, audio, and event tickerinformation compressed data streams and sent to the video 262, audio264, and event ticker information 260 decoder, respectively.

At module 264, the audio decoder accepts the compressed audio datastream from the transport stream. The control and synchronizationinformation is extracted from the packet header. Then, the datainformation is decoded to reconstruct uncompressed digital audiosamples. The uncompressed digital audio samples are forwarded to theevent stream generator 250.

At module 262, the video decoder accepts the compressed video datastream from the transport stream. The control and synchronizationinformation is extracted from the packet header. Then, the datainformation is decoded to reconstruct uncompressed digital video frames.The uncompressed digital frames are forwarded to the event streamgenerator 250.

At module 260, the event stream decoder accepts the compressed eventinformation data stream from the transport stream. The control andsynchronization information is extracted from the packet header. Then,the event information data stream is decoded to reconstruct anuncompressed event information data stream. The uncompressed event dataframes are forwarded to event stream generator 250.

Concurrently with the playback of the selected recorded stream asdescribed above, the event stream from the broadcasted signal iscaptured and analyzed. The captured event stream is also forwarded toevent stream generator 250. This process is described below.

At module 190, the generated playback parameters are used to createprogram selections for the capture of the programs with the eventinformation corresponding to the programs selected by the user withinthe playback parameters. Based upon the program selections, tuner 105captures the MPEG-2 video signal relating to the program selection andoutputs the transport stream 106, which is, contains all components ofthe compressed video stream. At module 196, the transport stream 106 ismonitored to establish packet boundaries so that the data fields can beprocessed. The packets in the transport stream 106 are separated intovideo, audio, and event ticker information compressed data streams andsent to the video 200, audio 205, and event ticker information 204decoder, respectively.

At module 207, the event stream decoder accepts the compressed eventinformation data stream from the transport stream. The control andsynchronization information is extracted from the packet header. Then,the event information data stream is decoded to reconstruct anuncompressed event information data stream. The uncompressed event dataframes are forwarded to module 251. At module 251, the current eventdata stream is captured and stored. The captured event data is forwardedto event stream generator process 250.

In the method of the present invention, the initial step is to set therecorder to record the program. This process involves providing theparameters for recording the program. These parameters can include thedate and time of the program, the length of the recording time and thechannel of the program. As with conventional recording devices, thisdevice will have a tuning that enables the devices to receive mosttelevision station signals. For cable and satellite systems, programsare received at the recording device at the frequencies of channelsthree (3) or four (4). After the recording is complete, the parameterscan be stored along with the recorded material on the disc. When theuser is ready to view the recorded program, the user can enter anidentifier parameter for that program. This identifier can be generatedby the device and given to the user or the user may have the option ofcreating a program identifier. With the program identifier, the desiredrecording is identified and retrieved. As part of the process of thepresent invention, the channel of the recorded program is alsoretrieved. This channel parameter tells the device tuner the channelfrequency that broadcast the recorded program. At this point, there is adetermination as to whether the recorded program contained a newsticker. If the determination were that the recorded program did notcontain a news ticker, then the playback process would immediatelybegin. However, if the determination is that the recorded program didcontain a news ticker, the next step is determine whether the channelresponsible for the recorded program currently has a news ticker. Ifthis channel currently does not have a news ticker, the next step isplaying the recorded program without any news ticker information.Another, but less attractive option is to display the recorded programwith the older ticker information. If the channel currently does have anews ticker, the method of the present invention would retrieve thecurrent news ticker information displayed in the current broadcast fromthat station and incorporate that ticker information on the currentplayback of the recorded program.

Illustrated in FIG. 5, is a flow chart of the event stream generatorprocess 250. At step 270, a check is made to see if the playback tickerinformation is set for a specific recorded program. If the playbackticker is set, then the process proceeds to step 272 to retrieve thecurrent event stream for that specific channel. If an event is notlocated within the current event stream, then at step 282 either a staleevent ticker is displayed or nothing is displayed. However, if an eventis located at step 274, event stream is located within the recordedvideo stream. Then, at step 278, the current event stream is substitutedfor the recorded event stream. At step 280, a new composite video streamis generated containing the current event stream and the recorded videostream. The generated composite video stream is feed into encoder 120,which generates analog signals for playback on the television.

FIG. 7 a shows a television program 300 on a channel having a sportsnews ticker 310 at the bottom of the screen. This sports news ticker hasresults from several games played on the date that the program wasrecorded. As mentioned, this sports ticker 310 was recorded as part ofthe program. FIG. 7 b shows the screen 320 of the recorded programduring the playback of the program. In accordance with the method of thepresent invention, the screen displays a different sport ticker 330having results from several games played on the date that the user playsback the recorded program. In this illustration, the ticker is sportsinformation. At another time, the news ticker for that channel maydisplay a different news subject matter such as the day's newsheadlines. In addition, if the user kept the recorded program anddesired the playback of the program a second time, during that secondplayback session, the news ticker would display information that iscurrently displayed on that channel instead of the previously recordednews information.

It is important to note that while the present invention has beendescribed in the context of several preferred embodiments, there arealterations, permutations, and equivalents, which fall within the scopeof this invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that theprocesses of the present invention are capable of being distributed inthe form of instructions in a computer readable medium in the form of astorage device or memory, such as EPROM, ROM, tape, paper, floppy disc,hard disk drive, RAM, and CD-ROMs. Thus, a computer program productcomprises the computer readable storage device or memory and theinstructions stored therein, wherein the instructions are configured tobe executed by a processor (e.g., the CPU 135 in the computer system ofFIG. 1) to perform the methods of the present invention.

1. In a digital video recording system configured with a processor andat least one mass storage device, a method for incorporating a currentevent data stream from a television broadcasted video signal onto apre-recorded video stream for playback on a television set, said methodcomprising: retrieving, by said processor, a first digital video streamfrom the at least one mass storage device, said first digital videostream comprising television program content and a first event datastream; ascertaining, by said processor, whether a current event islocated in the current event data stream in the television broadcastedvideo signal; if said ascertaining ascertains that the current event islocated in the current event data stream in the television broadcastedvideo signal, then automatically replacing, by said processor, the firstevent data stream with the current event data stream in the retrievedfirst digital video stream to generate a composite video streamcontaining the television program content and the current event datastream; after said replacing the first event data stream, playing back,by said processor, on a screen of the television set the televisionprogram content concurrently with the current event data stream, saidtelevision program content and said current event data stream beingconcurrently visible on the screen during said playing back; if saidascertaining ascertains that the current event is not located in thecurrent event data stream in the television broadcasted video signal,then automatically retaining, by said processor, the retrieved firstdigital video stream without replacing the first event data stream inthe retrieved first digital video stream; after said retaining theretrieved first digital video stream, playing back, by said processor,on the screen of the television set the television program content inthe retained first digital video stream.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein said ascertaining ascertains that the current event is locatedin the current event data stream in the television broadcasted videosignal.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the screen of the televisionset consists of a first portion and a second portion, wherein saidplaying back comprises concurrently playing back the television programcontent on the first portion of the screen and playing back the currentevent data stream on the second portion of the screen, and wherein thefirst portion and the second portion are mutually exclusive.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said ascertaining ascertains that the currentevent is not located in the current event data stream in the televisionbroadcasted video signal.
 5. The method of claim 1, said method furthercomprising: said processor determining that the first event data streamincludes a first event, wherein said ascertaining is performed inresponse to said determining that the first event data stream includesthe first event.
 6. The method of claim 1, said method furthercomprising: said processor receiving the first digital video streamcomprising the television program content, said first digital videostream containing a first event data stream; and prior to saidretrieving, said processor recording the received first digital videostream onto the at least one mass storage device.
 7. The method of claim6, wherein said recording the received first digital video stream isbased upon a user's playback requirements for the first digital videostream.
 8. A digital video recording system for incorporating a currentevent data stream from a television broadcasted video signal onto apre-recorded video stream for playback on a television set, said systemcomprising: a processor; a mass storage device coupled to the processor;a computer readable memory coupled to the processor; first programinstructions to retrieve a first digital video stream from the at leastone mass storage device, said first digital video stream comprisingtelevision program content and a first event data stream; second programinstructions to ascertain whether a current event is located in thecurrent event data stream in the television broadcasted video signal;third program instructions to respond to ascertaining that the currentevent is located in the current event data stream in the televisionbroadcasted video signal, said third program instructions comprising:program instructions to automatically replace the first event datastream with the current event data stream in the retrieved first digitalvideo stream to generate a composite video stream containing thetelevision program content and the current event data stream; andprogram instructions to play back, on a screen of the television setafter the first event data stream is replaced, the television programcontent concurrently with the current event data stream, said televisionprogram content and said current event data stream being concurrentlyvisible on the screen during said playing back; fourth programinstructions to respond to ascertaining that the current event is notlocated in the current event data stream in the television broadcastedvideo signal, said fourth program instructions comprising: programinstructions to automatically retain the retrieved first digital videostream without replacing the first event data stream in the retrievedfirst digital video stream; and program instructions to play back on thescreen of the television set, after the retrieved first digital videostream is retained, the television program content in the retained firstdigital video stream, wherein the first program instructions, the secondprogram instructions, the third program instructions, and the fourthprogram instructions are stored on the mass storage device for executionby the processor via the computer readable memory.
 9. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the screen of the television set consists of a firstportion and a second portion, wherein said program instructions to playback said television program content comprise program instructions toconcurrently play back said television program content on the firstportion of the screen and play back the current event data stream on thesecond portion of the screen, and wherein the first portion and thesecond portion are mutually exclusive.
 10. The system of claim 8, saidsystem further comprising: fifth program instructions to determine thatthe first event data stream includes a first event, wherein said secondprogram instructions to ascertain comprise program instructions toascertain, in response to a determination having been made that thefirst event data stream includes the first event, whether the currentevent is located in the current event data stream in the televisionbroadcasted video signal, wherein the fifth program instructions arestored on the mass storage device for execution by the processor via thecomputer readable memory.
 11. The system of claim 8, said system furthercomprising: fifth program instructions to receive the first digitalvideo stream comprising the television program content, said firstdigital video stream containing a first event data stream; and sixthprogram instructions to record, prior to the first digital video streamhaving been retrieved from the at least one mass storage device, thereceived first digital video stream onto the at least one mass storagedevice, wherein the fifth program instructions and the sixth programinstructions are stored on the mass storage device for execution by theprocessor via the computer readable memory.
 12. The system of claim 11,wherein a recording of the received first digital video stream viaexecution of the sixth program instructions is based upon a user'splayback requirements for the first digital video stream.
 13. A computerprogram product for incorporating a current event data stream from atelevision broadcasted video signal onto a pre-recorded video stream forplayback on a television set, said computer program product comprising:a mass storage device; first program instructions to retrieve a firstdigital video stream from the at least one mass storage device, saidfirst digital video stream comprising television program content and afirst event data stream; second program instructions to ascertainwhether a current event is located in the current event data stream inthe television broadcasted video signal; third program instructions torespond to ascertaining that the current event is located in the currentevent data stream in the television broadcasted video signal, said thirdprogram instructions comprising: program instructions to automaticallyreplace the first event data stream with the current event data streamin the retrieved first digital video stream to generate a compositevideo stream containing the television program content and the currentevent data stream; and program instructions to play back, on a screen ofthe television set after the first event data stream is replaced, thetelevision program content concurrently with the current event datastream, said television program content and said current event datastream being concurrently visible on the screen during said playingback; fourth program instructions to respond to ascertaining that thecurrent event is not located in the current event data stream in thetelevision broadcasted video signal, said fourth program instructionscomprising: program instructions to automatically retain the retrievedfirst digital video stream without replacing the first event data streamin the retrieved first digital video stream; and program instructions toplay back on the screen of the television set, after the retrieved firstdigital video stream is retained, the television program content in theretained first digital video stream, wherein the first programinstructions, the second program instructions, the third programinstructions, and the fourth program instructions are stored on the massstorage device for execution by a processor.
 14. The computer programproduct of claim 13, wherein the screen of the television set consistsof a first portion and a second portion, wherein said programinstructions to play back said television program content compriseprogram instructions to concurrently play back said television programcontent on the first portion of the screen and play back the currentevent data stream on the second portion of the screen, and wherein thefirst portion and the second portion are mutually exclusive.
 15. Thecomputer program product of claim 13, said system further comprising:fifth program instructions to determine that the first event data streamincludes a first event, wherein said second program instructions toascertain comprise program instructions to ascertain, in response to adetermination having been made that the first event data stream includesthe first event, whether the current event is located in the currentevent data stream in the television broadcasted video signal, whereinthe fifth program instructions are stored on the mass storage device forexecution by the processor.
 16. The computer program product of claim13, said system further comprising: fifth program instructions toreceive the first digital video stream comprising the television programcontent, said first digital video stream containing a first event datastream; and sixth program instructions to record, prior to the firstdigital video stream having been retrieved from the at least one massstorage device, the received first digital video stream onto the atleast one mass storage device, wherein the fifth program instructionsand the sixth program instructions are stored on the mass storage devicefor execution by the processor.
 17. The computer program product ofclaim 16, wherein a recording of the received first digital video streamvia execution of the sixth program instructions is based upon a user'splayback requirements for the first digital video stream.